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Single Review: Brothers Osborne - "21 Summer"

1/26/2016

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​I’ll be the first to admit that the debut album, Pawn Shop from the Brothers Osborne wasn’t quite the knockout that I had hoped it would be. I loved “Stay A Little Longer”, and you can bet that I’m excited that it helped them break through. However, I only thought the album was good rather than great, which sort of frustrated me a little. And it wasn’t for this reason that it didn’t get reviewed here at TICM (for the record, it would have gotten 3/5 stars), it’s just that I honestly never had the time to get around and review it. That being said, I did think Pawn Shop had some damn good quality cuts, and their latest single, “21 Summer” is one of those songs.
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Thematically, “21 Summer” recalls the nostalgia of a lost summer love, and the effects that it has on the male of the relationship in question. After hearing this song, I immediately thought of similar songs by Keith Urban and Kip Moore titled, “’Til Summer Comes Around” and “Girl Of The Summer”, respectively. Both of those songs share similar framing, as they both center around a girl who seemingly disappeared from the scene once summer ended without so much as a goodbye, leaving the male narrator bitter and heartbroken. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking those songs, nor am I going to go into great detail with them (after all, this is a review of Brothers Osborne and not Kip or Keith.) However, it really seems to elevate the framing and songwriting of “21 Summer” as a whole when you put it in context. The song still focuses on a heartbroken male. However, he is able to look back at those memories with a smile on his face rather than a grudge. And maybe that’s because the relationship here not only ended amicably, but also taught the narrator a lot of lessons along the way, such as how to be a man and what love truly is. Then there’s the fact that the male directly says that he hopes his old flame managed to achieve her goals in life, and wishes her the best wherever she may be by now. There’s a strong sense of maturity present here that I can definitely appreciate.

Instrumentally, this song drifts away from the brother’s signature fusion of country, rock and blues, and instead, locks in a more country-pop sound, which works surprisingly well (I’d even argue better) for the duo. There’s a spacey atmosphere here that often times feel smoothing, and is accentuated by the warm delivery with which TJ Osborne delivers this song with. The chorus on this song is melodically strong, and heck, even the “oh’s” that echo after the choruses are done right, most likely because they serve to bolster the somewhat haunting tone of this song rather than just serving as pointless ear candy.

As the reality of winter finally starts to set in (I mean it’s only late January…..), “21 Summer” is the perfect single the Brothers Osborne could have sent to radio. There are a lot of little key elements that make this song stand out above the rest of the pack, and for that, it’s most likely going to be one of the better country singles in the mainstream this year. Certainly a fine start if you ask me.

Grade: A-
Listen: 
“21 Summer”

Author: ​Zackary Kephart

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Single Review: Dierks Bentley - "Somewhere On A Beach"

1/22/2016

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I don’t think there’s a better example of an artist in mainstream country music who straddles the line between commercial appeal and critical acclaim better than Dierks Bentley. He’s a name that gets brought up repeatedly regarding this subject because he’s essentially one of the last male artists out there who actually cares about making quality music. And so, when he announced his new single would be called “Somewhere On A Beach”, I didn’t know what to expect. On one hand, he had the challenge of following up two ballad singles with “Say You Do”, and “Riser”, and so expecting an uptempo party number (a.k.a, Dierks appeasing his label) in the vein of “5-1-5-0” or “Sideways” wasn’t totally out of the question. On the other hand, when Dierks described his upcoming eighth studio album, Black, he proclaimed that the album would explore the concept of love, and so a title such as “Somewhere On A Beach” can sort of depict something romantic such as enjoying a nice sunset with a loved one on a beach listening to the calm of the ocean. The unfortunate thing about this song is that it chooses to be former rather than the latter.

It’s not that expecting a “Bentley dud” (as someone else I saw described them) is bad. Heck, the great thing about Dierks is even his most mainstream friendly material retains at least some sort of artistic integrity, in a way that at least makes it stand out from the crowd. But “Somewhere On A Beach”? This is bad folks. Like, REALLY bad………..

​Considering Black is said to explore the concept of love, the theme of “Somewhere On A Beach” is completely nonsensical. “Somewhere On A Beach” tells of a man who escapes to the beach to escape an ex-lover. It’s just quite the coincidence that he meets a new girl while he’s there. That’s great that you met a new girl dude, but do we have to go all “Home Alone Tonight” by rubbing it in the ex’s face that you now spend your days doing nothing but having wild sex and partying? If anything, that proves you haven’t moved on. And you wonder why she left in the first place? In addition, where’s the love here? Hooking up with some new girl and having revenge sex doesn’t really scream love to me. As immature and cringe inducing as the theme is, the lyrics that get us through it are even worse. Written by Jaren Boyer (“Hell Of A Night”, “Riot”, “Laid Back”), David Kuncio, Josh Mirenda, Alex Palmer, and Michael Tyler Spragg (“Laid Back”), (yes, this song took five writers ladies and gentlemen), there are some lines here that sound like Florida Georgia Line 2.0. The chorus is where the most damage is done. Take a look:

​“I’m somewhere on a beach, sippin’ something strong. Got a new girl, she got it going on. We drink all day and party all night. I’m way too good to have you on my mind. Well, she got a body, and she’s naughty, and she’s got me like you ain’t ever got me. Getting sun, getting sun and I ain’t slept in a week, yeah I’m somewhere on a beach.”

I hate to quote the whole chorus but…….wow.  Honestly, if Dierks was going to pander to any trend, at least this isn’t a pop/EDM hybrid. But still, “she’s got a body and she’s naughty”??? “Getting sun and I ain’t slept in a week”? Dierks, buddy, you’re forty, stop that. Mock something like “Drunk On A Plane” all you want, but at least that had a clever story to it, and even something like “5-1-5-0” had a noticeable energy to it. This? I got nothing folks.

What’s most sad about this song is that even a somewhat melancholy, blues production isn’t enough to cloud the horrid lyrics here. But really, that’s the only saving grace about this song. Heck, even the melody is extremely clunky.

Do I think Dierks “sold out”? No, absolutely not, and anyone who says he has is being totally unfair (notice that doesn’t equate to me saying it’s not fair to dislike this particular song…..). But that doesn’t change the fact that “Somewhere On A Beach” is his worst attempt at trying to win over radio. I heavily believe that this song will be the anomaly of his upcoming album, which really leaves me nothing else to say about this song other than I hope it shoots to #1 so this song can go away and we can hear the quality on this album. Until then, sorry Dierks, but even as a huge fan of your work, this just sucks.

Grade: D-
Listen: “Somewhere On A Beach”

Author: Zackary Kephart

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Single Review: Jennifer Nettles - "Unlove You"

1/7/2016

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​One of the problems with trying to establish yourself as an artist is finding an identity. Without knowing where your strengths lie, you can’t evolve or sustain a lasting career. That’s the funny thing about Jennifer Nettles. She knows exactly where her strengths lie, and yet up until now has chosen to run away from them in her solo career.

One of the problems with her debut album, That Girl, was that she wanted to do something out of her comfort zone. This is actually a great thing for an artist to want to do, but not for their debut album. Granted, one could argue that the album could be an exception to the rule given that we’ve already heard her with Sugarland, but still, the album was a way for Jennifer to wipe the slate clean and start over as an artist. A song such as “That Girl” leaves you scratching your head rather than enjoying the song. And then after the second single “Me Without You” failed on the charts we got the horrid summertime song, “Sugar” which found Jennifer trying her hand on a disastrous trend. That is why with her new single “Unlove You”, we finally have Jennifer matched with a song that plays to her strengths, and is pretty solid as a result.

“Unlove You” revolves around a woman who is heartbroken by a man. She tries to shake him off by doing things such as crying and laughing but it’s to no avail. No matter what she does she can’t unlove this man who hurt her. She can’t fight her feelings and succumbs to a continuous, tortuous love. Written by Jennifer and Brandy Clark, the song tackles a familiar theme that isn’t exactly new in country music. That being said, the lyrics here are pretty damn solid and do a good job of avoiding cliches. The best example of this may be in the second verse when Jennifer acknowledges that if this had happened when she was younger, she wouldn’t have contemplated her decision for a minute. She would have kept on being blind. Now that she’s older she at least knows something is wrong. She still can’t overcome her feelings but she’s at least a little wiser. As great as the lyrics are however, I think they go a little too deep in the wrong direction. I would liked some background on what the male did to hurt her as bad as he did. After all, with the emotion the song carries it could have been a great way to support the overall strength of the song.

Another issue that I take with this is the production. The song is fantastic until the chorus, with the verses led mainly by acoustic guitar (with an opening that sounds sort of similar to Jana Kramer’s “I Got The Boy”). When the chorus hits however, there are some pop beats present that seem frivolous rather than necessary. They don’t hurt the overall song, but I definitely think some steel guitar would have sounded better.

Vocally, this may be the best song of Jennifer’s career so far. It’s hard to deny that Jennifer has a strong set of pipes on her, and they fit very well on this mainly acoustic ballad. In a song such as this, it’s easy to become shouty, especially on the usual boisterous final chorus that usually accompanies this sort of song. Jennifer does a great job of keeping her vocals from doing this, which in turn elevates the overall listening experience.

I know I’ve had some things to criticize about this song, but this may be Jennifer’s best single in her solo career thus far. The fact that this is the first single for Jennifer’s new album makes me excited to see what direction she takes her music. If I was her, I’d focus on honing in on my strengths like she does on “Unlove You” rather than pandering to the lowest common denominator such as on “Sugar”. Jennifer will certainly be someone to watch in 2016.
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Grade: B
Listen: 
“Unlove You”

Author: ​Zackary Kephart

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